Early rally sends GM shares higher

Early trading in Toronto and New York show significant interest in General Motors as the automaker returns to the public realm with its initial public stock offering today.

Trading started above the IPO list price in New York at US$35.72 (NYSE:GM) and $35.84 in Toronto (TSX:GMM.U) this morning.

According to news sites, today’s offering is potentially worth $23 billion and is one of the largest IPOs in history.

The Canadian Press says the U.S. Treasury is unloading more than 400 million shares, reducing its stake from 61 per cent to about 33 per cent. Canada's federal and Ontario governments own a combined 11 per cent stake in the General but plan to reduce that stake to below 10 per cent by selling about 35 million shares.

Early action has seen the per share price rise by nearly $3 in both markets.

Stay tuned to Canadian AutoWorld throughout the day for coverage of this historic stock offering.

- With files from The Canadian Press